Day five featured a very unique prelim session to any other that we’ve seen this past week at the 2014 US Nationals as it started off with a swim-off, and ended with three.
The first swim-off of the morning which happened before the first scheduled event, the 200m IM, featured two young swimmers vying for a spot on the Jr. Pan Pac team in the 100m fly. Cassidy Bayer and Hannah Weiss fought back and forth throughout the entirety of the race, but in the end it was Bayer who dipped under the one-minute mark to set up her spot on the roster at with a 59.85 at just 14-years-old. Weiss wasn’t far behind Bayer in 1:00.09, but will not be representing the US at the Jr. Pan Pacs.
Following two big ties in the men’s 50m freestyle and one tie in the women’s, there were three swim-offs scheduled to take place following the completion of the session.
Kaitlyn Abertoli, 17, and Linnea Mack, 18, both swam a 26.26 in the heats to tie for 45th place in the 50m freestyle. Due to their age, they were illegible for the C-final which only features swimmers 18&under. In that swim-off it was down to the touch which went to Albertoli in 25.88 beating Mack by a fraction of a second as she touched in at 25.91. Albertoni will swim in an outside lane in the C-final tonight.
Matt Grevers, Caleb Dressel, and Mark Webber battled it out for a seventh and eighth spot in the championship final. All three swimmers tied for seventh in the heats, so two would advance, and one would settle for the slower B-final.
In the water they were already dead even until Webber turned on the jets to push home in a 22.16. He just out-touched a charging Matt Grevers who was just behind him in 22.22. The two earned themselves the outside lanes in the championship final whereas Dressel, who finished third in 22.55 will get the middle lane in the B-final.
John Murray and Tyler Messerschmidt, a Texas and Cal sprinter in the college season, both swam a 22.54 in the heats to tie for 16th. The two swam-off for an outside lane in the B-final, ultimately it was Murray who got his hand on the wall first in 22.37 separating himself from Messerschmidt who finished back in 22.70.
Whoa, getcher Horns up! John Murray 22.3! His improvement over the past year has been simply phenomenal. I’m almost certain he’s never been under :23. Bravo Mr. Murray and Eddie Reese.
It would be good if you could make an updated US roster for junior Pan Pacs.
It’s so complicated for me to really understand who has qualified. 🙂
They take the best times swum at US nationals this week in prelims and in finals. Ok. That’s why there’s a swim-off. I didn’t understand very well but I’ve checked the results of the 100 fly 2 days ago and Cassidy Bayer swam 59.89 in the B-Final and Lauren Case swam the same time in prelims. The qualification meet is this week. You had to swim fast this week! Not last week! But the result is that you will not send your best swimmers in Hawaii in several events. I… Read more »
Bobo…this was quick, and I might be missing something, but heres what I’m seeing on the men’s side, based on my understanding…hopefully it makes some sense.
Top 3 18 & under times in each event…
50 Free
100 Free Pieroni Haas Powers
200 Free Haas Pieroni Egan
400 Free Burns Roberts Egan
1500 Free Burns Sweetser K. Litherland
100 Back Andrew Green Young
200 Back Green Roberts Griffin
100 Breast Vissering Hoppe Kropp
200 Breast Taylor Rutter Bentz
100 Fly Valente Lynch Andrew
200 Fly Seliskar Okubo Shoults
200 IM
400 IM Litherland Bentz Seliskar
Currently, that’s 21 men in the top three, with only 20 making… Read more »
Something is off on my math…17 + 7 does not equal 21…
Figured it out…left a couple names off the first list, although they were in their right spots in the second.
Andrew
Bentz
Burns
Egan
Green
Griffin
Haas
Hoppe
Kropp
Litherland, J
Litherland, K
Lynch
Okubo
Pieroni
Powers
Roberts
Rutter
Seliskar
Shoults
Sweetser
Taylor
Valente
Vissering
Young
Total: 24
I don’t know if you watched the swim-off for the spots in the men’s 50 free A final, but they weren’t dead even. Unfortunately, Dressel had a little flinch on the blocks that resulted in a poor start, so he was swimming from behind the whole way.